Punk vs. Ryback vs. Cena: Why The Survivor Series Main Event Change Was A Bad Call?

It's good to step outside my "Deluxe Lounge" shoes for a change and blog about current events. I got a lot of things I want to get off my chest, and it all has to do with the abrupt main event change that took place on Monday. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the read.

Now, just in case I wasn't hallucinating last week, am I the only one that watched WWE dedicate an entire three-hour RAW to building up a traditional Survivor Series tag team match? You know. Team Foley and Team Punk? Remember that. They set into motion a logic feud between CM Punk and Mick Foley that had major potential of being something great. Now granted, I'll admit I wasn't so excited about the Traditional 5-on-5 match at first, but as time passed I got more and more excited for it. With wrestlers like Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Alberto Del Rio, Damien Sandow, Kane, The Miz, and Randy Orton, there was no way the match could fail to deliver in match quality. It presented us with new faces in the main event, which is a much needed change from Cena and Sheamus always getting the spot. Plus, the many possibilities that can come about with Paul Heyman and Mick Foley being involved just made me salivate for it even more. So, as it was, I was absolutely fine with the previous main event and I was looking for the match.

And then RAW happened ...

I knew something was amiss as soon as Vince McMahon pulled Vickie Guerrero out on stage and she looked as lost as a deer in headlights. Then he started asking these random questions, saying why are we "rewarding" CM Punk with men to hide behind. I knew then I was not going to like what came next and boy did I not. When the announcement was made that CM Punk had to defend his title against Ryback AND John Cena, I literally got mad. WTF?? How the hell did we get here? Even the announcers didn't know what to make of it. They were just as loss as we were. This obviously was made up on the spot. If something THIS drastic was known about ahead of time, then WWE would have at least made an announcement about it. The fact that this was made in the middle of a BRAD MADDOX promo is further proof that no one knew about it and this was conjured from the mind of Vince McMahon himself and not the script itself. This very announcement rendered the entire previous RAW pointless and a complete waste of our lives.

Whose idea was it to change the main event TWO weeks away from the PPV anyways? How do you expect fans to want to buy your PPVs if you're not even going to give them enough time to invest into what's on the show? This is the same shit WCW used to do. They'd book a match, then either the week before, or the day of, they change it up completely and give us something different. That's what happened to Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg and it left a lot of fans disappointed. The sad thing is -- one can argue CM Punk should indeed be facing John Cena and Ryback if they would have announced it IMMEDIATELY after Hell in a Cell. But now? Absolutely no sense!

Answer me this. What was John Cena doing before this announcement? He was involved in an "affair" or "PG sex scandal" with AJ started up by Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler. This same sex scandal led to AJ Lee losing her job. So you would think logically Cena would be in trouble too, right? I guess not since he is going to get a WWE championship match anyways. And what about beef Cena has with Ziggler? Are we supposed to set that aside as well? So I supposed all the interactions Ziggler had with AJ and Cena has become pointless also, right? Wonderful. In the process of making this match, WWE dismantles two storylines already in progress. Team Foley vs. Team Punk & John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler.

So what is Dolph Ziggler going to do now? Oh, I know! Let's replace CM Punk with Ziggler and have him lead a team against Team Foley. That obviously was their train of thought since no one bothered to answer the million dollar question: What beef does Ziggler have with Mick Foley? For the last month, Foley has been at odds with CM Punk, not Dolph Ziggler. The last time Foley and Ziggler were even in the same segment was at the VERY beginning of 2012, and that was not worthy of a match let alone a traditional 5-on-5 match. There is no logical progression for this whatsoever. In fact, there is no progression at all! Ziggler literally storyline jumped into a feud that he should not even be involved in.

Oh, and by the way, isn't The Miz the poster boy for Survivor Series? What the hell is he gonna do now? Kofi is involved in a match. Ryback is in the main event. And he was replaced with Wade Barrett. What? Are we gonna turn him babyface and have him lead Team Foley? Right. Hey, I wouldn't put it pass them at this time.

What a mess! WWE has truly dug itself a hole with this decision. Nothing makes sense, two storylines have been dismantled, and all that is left is confusion and un-hyped matches for WWE Survivor Series 2012. I don't care what anyone says, this was a bad decision. So what if fans weren't excited about Team Foley vs. Team Punk at first? The storyline BARELY got off the ground before it was cancelled, and so fans did not have a chance to get invested. The only solace I can take from this is the fact that CM Punk is guaranteed to hold the belt to Royal Rumble at this point in time. They obviously made it a triple threat match so Punk can retain without Cena or Ryback looking weak. I shudder to think if WWE actually took the title off of Punk and gave it to Cena or Ryback.....

I look forward to reading your feedback. I also made a video on it this very subject so check it out. Thanks for reading.

Comments

I too believe it made no sense to change the match. I personally have always enjoyed "traditional survivor series matches". My only complaint about the match was the participants. It's too easy just putting a couple feuds in one match. I would have rather have seen Orton and Barrett's feud culminate in a #1 contenders match. If WWE ever remembered past feuds they'd leave Orton away from Foley's team. Same as Del Rio and Punk. It would have been an excellent opportunity to introduce Dean Ambrose considering his past with Foley (if he's healed that is). I think they could have bulit a suvivor match around Miz and Kofi as well. Just for fun, here's my card:

You're absolutely right it makes absolutely no freaking sense!
Tradition is key, and Survivor Series is something that you plan months in advance, not on-the-spot and improvised. It was a complete embarrassment.

Has to do with buy-rates. The E has the numbers to back it up. Tag Team main events dont sell PPVs. Putting Ryback in the HIAC main event stimulated sales in a positive direction and Vince wants to capitalize on this. Makes perfect sense to me. Punk can retain in a match like this without going over Ryback.

I wanted the WWE title to be defended at Survivor Series. Look at the earlier Survivor Series when you just had tag team matches the whole show. It was boring.......it started to be good when you had just a few classic Survivor Series matches. I bet this match will out draw last years SS with Rock/Cena team vs Miz/Truth.

**Even the announcers didn't know what to make of it. They were just as loss as we were. This obviously was made up on the spot.**

You can't be serious? There is no way you can be serious with this statement.

Okay. This is very very simple. Whatever you see on WWE television, save for real injuries, IS A PART OF THE SCRIPT. Everyone knows it's happening and everyone acts shocked and surprised because everyone on camera, IS ACTING AS PER THE SCRIPT.

Now that's out of the way. I sort of agree with you about the Survivor Series match. It's probably better than the triple threat title match. However, this triple threat match is a way to not have Roidback job, and also, not have Punk look weak and lose. Expect Roidback to have Cena beat, and a CM Punk low-blow and steal the win. Then, there's also the money aspect of it.